Two of a Kind Beats King High
}} Leaving the room, Redcloak checks the dead hobgoblin, revealing him to be a metalsmith. He takes a phylactery identical to Xykon's, and switches them around. Upon disintegrating the corpse to hide the evidence, he enters the room to find the Monster in the Darkness and the Demon-Roaches, who are commenting on Xykon's (wrathful) return. Angry over his phylactery being lost, Xykon is seen strangling Jirix as Redcloak walks in. Cast * Team Evil ** Xykon ◀ ▶ ** Redcloak (one-eyed) ◀ ▶ ** The Monster in the Darkness ◀ ▶ ** Two Demon-Roaches ◀ ▶ ** Jirix (also hypoxic) ◀ ▶ * Elder Hobgoblin ◀ Transcript Off-panel, the wights continue to eat Tsukiko and each other, "crunch crunch crunch". Redcloak regards the dead hobgoblin with the grey beard and leather apron. Redcloak: I’m sorry it had to end like this. Redcloak removes a box from the hobgoblin's apron pocket. Redcloak: But at least you brought your handiwork with you. Redcloak: Unseal. The box opens with a "click!" and a "creeeak." Redcloak looks in the box as he produces Xykon's phylactery from behind his back. Closeup of the box. It contains a duplicate of Xykon's phylactery. Redcloak: Every detail, every scratch. Exactly as I remembered them. A perfect match. Redcloak places the real phylactery into a small bag. Redcloak: The loss of your craftsmanship diminishes our people, elder. Redcloak places the bag containing the phylactery behind his back. Redcloak: May you be called upon to gild the edges of the Dark One’s own armor. Redcloak: Disintegrate. The hobgoblin jeweler is disintegrated with a "zzzzap!" Redcloak leaves his study. Redcloak: Greater Obscure Object. Redcloak walks up some flights of stairs. Redcloak: Hardening. Redcloak: Superior Resistance. Redcloak: Greater— Redcloak arrives in the tower where the Monster in the Darkness is in his box. A loud "CRASH!!" is heard from off-panel. Demon Cockroach #1: Lich is in the house, yo! Demon Cockroach #2: Foshizzle! Monster in the Darkness: Oh man! I haven’t seen him this mad since the last time I saw him! Redcloak: I take it he knows, then? Monster in the Darkness: Redcloak, I wouldn’t go in there if I were you. Redcloak: You are not me. Monster in the Darkness: I wouldn’t go in there if I were me, either. Which I’m pretty sure I am! Demon Cockroach #1: But he’s been wrong before. Xykon: Oh, hey, Red-Eye. Xykon: I was just having a little confab with your #2 here about why he called me back if he was just going to lose my phylactery to a bunch of snot-nosed elves and leftover paladins. Xykon: But he keeps going on and on about something totally unrelated. Jirix: Can’t…breathe… Xykon: See? Stop trying to change the subject! D&D Context * Unseal is a non-standard spell which he uses to open the locked box containing the fake phylactery. * Disintegrate is a 7th level spell which when cast on nonliving matter reduces the matter to a fine dust. * Redcloak is casting protection spells on the phylactery forgery so that it appears to have the same magical protection (against scrying, etc.) as the real one, some of these spells are not standard spells for clerics of the Law or Destruction Domains, which are the apparent Domains of Redcloak, considering his use of Disintegrate and Implosion: ** Greater Obscure Object is a non-standard and more powerful version of the 3rd level Obscure Object spell which hides an object from divination. ** Hardening is a 6th level wizard or 7th level spell for clerics of the Artifice Domain. It increases the Hardness (a rating on a scale of 0-20) of an object. ** Superior Resistance is a non-standard and more powerful version of the Resistance cantrip, which grants a +1 to an object's saving throws. Trivia * With the destruction of Tsukiko in the last comic, the living characters in this strip constitute the entirety of Team Evil at this time. They will not take on a new member until Oona in #1032. * The title plays with terms for poker hands, with the fake phylactery and the real one ("Two of a Kind") in juxtiposition with Xykon ("King High"). * This is the final appearance of the Elder Hobgoblin jeweler who made the ersatz phylactery. His first appearance is #828. External Links * 831}} View the comic * 230184}} View the discussion thread Category:Uses Unseal Category:Uses Disintegrate Category:Uses Greater Obscure Object Category:Uses Hardening Category:Uses Superior Resistance Category:Resistance is Crushed